Fast adjustment device for conveyor guide rails

ABSTRACT

Side rails are mounted over a conveyor. Each rail is connected to perpendicularly oriented rods that are slidably disposed in spring-retainer clamps. By selectively releasing the clamps, the rods may be longitudinally adjusted to position an associated side rail into close proximity with the outward contour of a conveyed article.

United States Patent Didas 1 Mar. 7, 1972 [54] FAST ADJUSTMENT DEVICEFOR CONVEYOR GUIDE RAILS [72] Inventor: Ronald E. Didas, Dansville, NY.

[73] Assignee: Stone Conveyor Co., Inc.

[22] Filed: May 26, 1970 [2]] Appl. No.: 40,560

[52] US. Cl ..l98/204 [51] Int. Cl ..B65g 15/60 {58] Field of Search t.198/204; 24/243 0 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,368,666Stone ..l98/204 1,505,220 8/1'9'24 Shay ..24/343Q PrimaryExaminer-Richard E. Aegerter Attorney-Clarence A. QBrien and Harvey B.Jacobson [57] ABSTRACT Side rails are mounted over a conveyor. Each railis connected to perpendicularly oriented rods that are slidably disposedin spring-retainer clamps. By selectively releasing the clamps, the rodsmay be longitudinally adjusted to position an associated side rail intoclose proximity with the outward con tour of a conveyed article.

7Claims,4Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAR 7 I972 8, 647, O5].

Rana/d E. Dido s INVIz'N'IUK.

' WW 19m FAST ADJUSTMENT DEVICE FOR CONVEYOR GUIDE RAILS The presentinvention pertains to a machine for conveying articles along apredetermined path and more particularly to means for adjustablymounting side rails above the machine.

Due to the irregular or odd-shaped nature of certain articles orcontainers, such as bottles or the like, conveyor machinery must bespecially designed to ensure that the articles will remain on a movingconveyor when the latter operates at a moderate speed. In the past, siderails have been placed in close proximity with the traveling articles sothat their lateral displacement is restricted.

When transferring conveyed articles from one conveyor to another byconventional means such as a transferring disc or by moving the articlealong curved sections of a conveyor, the speed at which the mechanism isallowed to operate is an important factor and at these points, theguiding side rails are normally employed for maintaining the articles inproper position on the conveying portion of the mechanism. In the past,adjusting means have been attached to the side rails so that the siderails may be properly positioned in close proximity with selectedportions of the conveyed articles. Guiding means including theadjustable feature is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,280,962, which issuedto Stone on Oct. 25, 1966. It is the express purpose of the presentinvention to define an improvement in the adjustable feature of theguiding means disclosed in that patent.

The Stone patent discloses means for adjustably mounting the side railswhich include threaded members secured in mounting brackets. When anadjustment of the side rail positions is desired, the threaded membersare adjusted with the use of tools until the side rails reside in adesired position. As will be appreciated, the adjustment procedure canbe time consuming and result in expensive conveyor mechanism downtimeuntil all the adjustments along the length of the entire conveyingmechanism have been properly made.

Further, the Stone patent sets forth a cam assembly that connects theside rails to the threaded members of the adjustment assembly. The camassembly is desirable because it allows the side rails to be tiltedthereby ensuring a greater degree of conformance between the side railsand the contour of the conveyed article.

The improvement of the present invention simplifies the adjustmentsdisclosed in the Stone patent and permits adjustment of the individualadjustment assemblies in a relatively short period of time which reducesthe downtime of the conveying mechanism.

Instead of threaded members employed in the Stone device, the presentinvention includes rodlike support members that are interconnected byspringretaining clips. In order to change the relative disposition ofthe rods which in turn changes the position of the side rails, all thatis required is the exertion of finger pressure on the retainer clipswhich allows sliding displacement of the rods.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. I is an end view, partially in section, of a conveying mechanismshowing the guide rails and the adjustment mechanism associatedtherewith according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view illustrating the adjustmentassembly in detail.

FIG. 3 is an elevational view illustrating the relationship betweenvarious components of the adjustment assembly.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a spring-retainer clip as employed inthe adjustment assembly.

Referring to the figures and more particularly FIG. 1, a conveyor bed isillustrated which includes conventional opposing channel members and 11having wear-resistant strip members 12 and 13 attached to the uppersurfaces thereof by means of countersunk screw fasteners 14 and 15,respectively. A conveyor member of the tabletop type is employed to movea handled article along a predetermined path, the conveyor member beingidentified by reference numeral 16.

Side guide rails 19 and 22 are disposed above the conveyor bed and areadapted to be positioned in close proximity to the body of the conveyedarticle. As illustrated in FIG. I, by way of example,'the conveyedarticle is illustrated as a bottle. The side rails are adjustablymounted on adjustment assemblies 9 and 17.

With regard to the adjustment assembly 9, an L-shaped mounting bracket18 includes a first flange portion disposed in underlying relation withthe underside of the channel members l0 and 11. The means of attachingbracket 18 includes a bolt anchor 20 disposed within the conveyor bedand formed to seat at the lower portion thereof intermediate the channelmembers 10 and 11. The bolt anchor is provided with a centrally disposedaperture which is adapted to receive abolt that extends downwardlythrough the conveyor bed. A washefl 23 and nut 24 assemble on bolt 21for attaching the mounting bracket 18 securely to and in abuttingrelation to the lower side of the channel members 10 and 1].

The outward end of the L-shaped bracket 18 extends vertically in theform of a flange 25 which serves to mount a releasable generallyU-shaped spring clamp 26. The structure of clamp 26 is more particularlyshown in FIG. 4 to include a web portion 28 having an aperture 30 formedtherein. The aperture is positioned in alignment with an aperture formedin the upper end of flange 25 thereby allowing passage of a bolt 32through these apertures. A nut 34 is slipped over the free end of bolt32 while an integrally formed head 36 characterizes the opposite end ofbolt 32. By tightening nut 34 against a confronting face of flange 25,the bolt head 36 clamps the web 28 of clamp 26 against flange 25. Theclamp includes two winglike flanges 38 and 40 which are positioned indiverging alignment. The flanges 38 and 40 include centrally formedapertures 42 and 44, respectively, to allow passage of a vertical rod 46therethrough. The upper end of the rod is threaded (48) and mounts a nut52 which serves as an abutment for a second releasable clamp 50. Asecond nut 54 is mounted on the threaded end of the rod and clamps theweb 56 of clamp 50 against the lower disposed nut 52. Apertures 58 and60 are formed in the wing flange portions of the clamp and thereforecomplete a clamp structure identical with clamp 26 aforementioned. Asinthe case of the clamp 26, the flanges usually flex outwardly so thatthe aperture walls in the wing flanges frictionally engage rod 62 thathorizontally passes through the horizontally aligned apertures 42 and 44in the flanges. As indicated in phantom in FIG. 3, when the wing flangesare pressed inwardly under the influence of digital pressure, the wingflanges will assume a parallel relationship and the oversized aperturesin the wing flanges will have their axes disposed in alignment therebyallowing the clamp to slide relative to rod 62. This sliding motionadjusts the position of the associated side rail 22.

In FIG. 2, the connection between side rail 22 and rod 62 is clearlyshown. As will be noted from an investigation of the figure, the innerend of rod 62 includes a head portion 64 enclosed by a U-shaped clevis65 that is pivotally mounted with respect to head 64 by means of a pivotpin 66. The outer edge of the clevis 65 is suitably attached to a nutmember 67. As indicated in FIG. 1, a nutlike fastener 70 clamps the siderail 22 against the nut 67. By loosening pivot pin 66, clevis 65 can betilted to effect a preselected tilt position of the side rail 22.

Considering FIG. 2, the particular structure of a typical guide railwill be seen to include a web portion 72 extending outwardly to angularinclined flanges 73 and 74. These lattermentioned flanges extend tovertically disposed outward flanges 75 and 76 which mount wear-resistantstrips 77 and 78, respectively. These wear strips are placed in closeproximity to preselected portions of the article 79 being conveyed.

A second adjusting assembly 17 is substantially the same as thatexplained in connection with assembly 9. However, if desired, themounting bracket 18 may be replaced by a second Z-shaped mountingbracket 81 having a first vertically oriented flange 80 attached tochannel member by means of a suitable threaded fastener 82. The centralweb 82 of the bracket extends outwardly to a third and final verticalflange 84 which mounts a releasable clamp 86 that is identical to theaforementioned clamps 26 and 50. The clamp 86 serves the same functionand is operated in the same manner as clamp 26. Thus, clamp 86 isemployed to adjustably support rod 88 which terminates upwardly in aconnection for attaching a fourth releasable clamp 90 that is identicalto the other mentioned clamps. Clamp 90 slidably receives support rod 92which serves the same function as the aforementioned rod 62. Thus, byproperly positioning rod 88 with respect to its associated clamp 86, thevertical position of side rail 19 will be determined. By suitablyadjusting the position of rod 92 with respect to clamp 90, thehorizontal position of the side rail 19 will be determined. The siderail 19 is adapted for tilting due to its pivotal connection to rod 92,which pivotal connection is constructed in an identical manner to thatpreviously described in connection with side rail 22.

When adjustment of the positions of the side rails 19 and 22 isrequired, the vertical positions thereof may be altered by adjustingrods 46 and 88 with respect to clamps 26 and 86, respectively. Aspreviously mentioned, this adjustment is made by squeezing the wingedflanges of the clamps together as illustrated in phantom in FIG. 3. Whenthe horizontal location of the side rails is to be altered, a similaradjustment in clamps 50 and 90 is made thereby allowing sliding of rods62 and 92. This of course results in the horizontal adjustment of theside rails 19 and 22.

As will be appreciated, adjustment of side rail position is easilyeffected by simply squeezing the illustrated clamps and sliding thereceived rods as required. No special tools are needed.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. In a conveyor system for conveying articles along a predeterminedpath laterally bounded by article guiding side rails, an adjustableassembly for the side rails comprising a plurality of mounting brackets,first releasable spring clamps connected to the brackets, vertical rodmembers engaged by the first spring clamps, the vertical rod membersbeing adjustably slidable in the first spring clamps to achieve selectedvertical positions, second releasable spring clamps connected to thevertical rod members, horizontal rod members engaged by the secondspring clamps, the horizontal rod members being adjustably slidable inthe second spring clamps to achieve selected horizontal positions, andmeans connecting the inner ends of the horizontal rod members to theside rails, whereby adjustment of the rod members results in dispositionof the side rails in close proximity to the conveyed article.

2. The structure of clam 1 wherein the first and second clamps eachcomprises a central web portion and winged flanges diverging outwardlyfrom the web portion, generally aligned apertures being formed in thewinged flanges to frictionally engage a rod member therein wherebyapplication of digital pressure to the winged flanges causes the wingedflanges to assume parallel positions thereby freeing engagement betweenthe winged flanges and the rod members.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein the means connecting the inner endsof the horizontal rod members to the side rails are pivotally attachedto the inner rod member ends, and fastener means securing an associatedside rail to the pivot means whereby adjustment of the pivot meansvaries the inclination of the side rail relatlve to Its associated rodmember.

4. The structure set forth in claim 3 wherein the pivot means comprisesa clevis pivotally mounted to the inner end of an associated horizontalrod member.

5. The structure set forth in claim 4 wherein the brackets each includesa vertical flange extending upwardly for termination below the movingmember, the upper end of each vertical flange having an aperture formedtherein, and fastening means disposed in the aperture for securing thefirst mentioned releasable spring clamps to the vertical flange.

6. In a conveyor system for conveying articles along a predeterminedpath laterally bound by an article guiding side rail, an adjustablyassembly for the side rails comprising at least one mounting bracket, afirst releasable spring clamp, connected to the bracket, vertical rodmembers engaged by the first spring clamp, the vertical rod member beingadjustably slidable in the clamp to achieve selected vertical positions,a second releasable spring clamp connected to the vertical rod member, ahorizontal rod member engaged by the second spring clamp, the horizontalrod member being adjustable with respect to the second spring clamp toachieve selected horizontal positions, and means connected the end ofthe horizontal rod member to the side rail, whereby an adjustment of therod members results in disposition of the side rail in close proximityto the conveyed article.

7. in a conveyor system for conveying articles along a predeterminedpath laterally bounded by article guiding side rails, an adjustableassembly for the side rails comprising a plurality of mounting brackets,first supporting means connected to the brackets, vertical rod membersengaged by the supporting means, the vertical rod members beingadjustably slidable in the supporting means to achieve selected verticalpositions, releasable spring clamps connected to the vertical rodmembers, horizontal rod members engaged by the spring clamps, thehorizontal rod members being adjustably slidable in the clamps toachieve selected horizontal positions, and means connecting the innerends of the horizontal rod mem bers to the side rails, wherebyadjustment of the rod members results in disposition of the side railsin close proximity to the conveyed article.

1. In a conveyor system for conveying articles along a predeterminedpath laterally bounded by article guiding side rails, an adjustableassembly for the side rails comprising a plurality of mounting brackets,first releasable spring clamps connected to the brackets, vertical rodmembers engaged by the first spring clamPs, the vertical rod membersbeing adjustably slidable in the first spring clamps to achieve selectedvertical positions, second releasable spring clamps connected to thevertical rod members, horizontal rod members engaged by the secondspring clamps, the horizontal rod members being adjustably slidable inthe second spring clamps to achieve selected horizontal positions, andmeans connecting the inner ends of the horizontal rod members to theside rails, whereby adjustment of the rod members results in dispositionof the side rails in close proximity to the conveyed article.
 2. Thestructure of clam 1 wherein the first and second clamps each comprises acentral web portion and winged flanges diverging outwardly from the webportion, generally aligned apertures being formed in the winged flangesto frictionally engage a rod member therein whereby application ofdigital pressure to the winged flanges causes the winged flanges toassume parallel positions thereby freeing engagement between the wingedflanges and the rod members.
 3. The structure of claim 2 wherein themeans connecting the inner ends of the horizontal rod members to theside rails are pivotally attached to the inner rod member ends, andfastener means securing an associated side rail to the pivot meanswhereby adjustment of the pivot means varies the inclination of the siderail relative to its associated rod member.
 4. The structure set forthin claim 3 wherein the pivot means comprises a clevis pivotally mountedto the inner end of an associated horizontal rod member.
 5. Thestructure set forth in claim 4 wherein the brackets each includes avertical flange extending upwardly for termination below the movingmember, the upper end of each vertical flange having an aperture formedtherein, and fastening means disposed in the aperture for securing thefirst mentioned releasable spring clamps to the vertical flange.
 6. In aconveyor system for conveying articles along a predetermined pathlaterally bound by an article guiding side rail, an adjustably assemblyfor the side rails comprising at least one mounting bracket, a firstreleasable spring clamp, connected to the bracket, vertical rod membersengaged by the first spring clamp, the vertical rod member beingadjustably slidable in the clamp to achieve selected vertical positions,a second releasable spring clamp connected to the vertical rod member, ahorizontal rod member engaged by the second spring clamp, the horizontalrod member being adjustable with respect to the second spring clamp toachieve selected horizontal positions, and means connected the end ofthe horizontal rod member to the side rail, whereby an adjustment of therod members results in disposition of the side rail in close proximityto the conveyed article.
 7. In a conveyor system for conveying articlesalong a predetermined path laterally bounded by article guiding siderails, an adjustable assembly for the side rails comprising a pluralityof mounting brackets, first supporting means connected to the brackets,vertical rod members engaged by the supporting means, the vertical rodmembers being adjustably slidable in the supporting means to achieveselected vertical positions, releasable spring clamps connected to thevertical rod members, horizontal rod members engaged by the springclamps, the horizontal rod members being adjustably slidable in theclamps to achieve selected horizontal positions, and means connectingthe inner ends of the horizontal rod members to the side rails, wherebyadjustment of the rod members results in disposition of the side railsin close proximity to the conveyed article.